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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, July 2003, p. 3163-3166, Vol. 41, No. 7
0095-1137/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JCM.41.7.3163-3166.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Comparison of Culture Screening Methods for Detection of Nasal Carriage of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus: a Prospective Study Comparing 32 Methods

Nasia Safdar, Leah Narans, Barbara Gordon, and Dennis G. Maki*

Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin Medical School, Madison, Wisconsin

Received 26 November 2002/ Returned for modification 27 January 2003/ Accepted 27 March 2003

Screening for carriage of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is fundamental to modern-day nosocomial infection control, both for epidemiologic investigation and day-to-day decisions on barrier isolation. Numerous microbiologic techniques have been advocated for screening for nasal carriage of MRSA, including the use of charcoal rather than rayon swabs, preincubation of swabs in Stuart's medium, preincubation of swabs in salt-containing trypticase soy broth (TSB), use of mannitol-salt agar (MSA), use of MSA containing oxacillin (MSAOx), use of Mueller-Hinton agar containing oxacillin (MHAOx), and the use of MSA containing lipovitellin with an oxacillin disk (MSALOx). We report a prospective clinical trial undertaken to test all of these methods concurrently. Patients at high risk for MRSA carriage were screened with eight consecutive nasal swabs (four standard rayon, four charcoal-coated rayon), which were processed by primary plating on MSA, MSAOx, MHAOx, and MSALOx; Stuart's preincubation for 72 h followed by plating on the solid media; overnight enrichment in salt-containing TSB followed by plating; and Stuart's preincubation for 72 h followed by overnight enrichment in TSB and plating. All of the above methods were repeated with charcoal swabs. Each patient was screened by 32 culture methods. Forty-three (42%) of 102 patients studied were positive for MRSA by one or more methods. Among the four media evaluated with direct plating, MSALOx was 11 to 25% more sensitive for detecting MRSA (MSALOx versus MSAOx or MHAOx or MSA, each P < 0.01). Preincubation in Stuart's medium for 72 h did not enhance recovery of MRSA. Enrichment in salt-containing TSB further increased yield 9%. MSALOx also showed the best specificity, 93%. Charcoal swabs showed no advantage over standard rayon swabs. Our results suggest that the highest yield will be achieved by using standard rayon swabs that are enriched overnight in TSB with inoculation onto MSALOx medium. Direct inoculation of swabs onto MSALOx allows detection of 90% of MRSA carriers.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin Medical School, 600 Highland Ave., Madison, WI 53792. Phone: (608) 263-2454. Fax: (608) 262-6743. E-mail: dgmaki{at}medicine.wisc.edu.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, July 2003, p. 3163-3166, Vol. 41, No. 7
0095-1137/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JCM.41.7.3163-3166.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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